Ἀπόστολος is a term not much used in Greek literature, meaning “messenger, ambassador, or envoy,” a natural derivation from the verb ἀποστέλλειν, “to send off” (Liddell/Scott, s.v). It occurs only once in the Septuagint (3 Kings 14:6) in the sense of “one sent” with a message. Its 80-fold usage in the New Testament would therefore be somewhat surprising to the initial listeners to and readers of the New Testament doc…